As it turns out, it’s unlikely that I can get surgery because my back is so fucked up. See that third vertebra down, the one that looks like a misshapen Pac Man eating a peanut? That’s what’s left of my L-1.
In the cancer lottery, that means I have most likely won a trip to Radiation Land. I like the radiation oncologist, I just wasn’t expecting to meet him.
Last week, the cancer surgeon prescribed Tramadol pain pills for my fractured vertebrae, but the CVS told me they would only give me three weeks’ worth without a prior authorization from the doctor. Is this a CVS thing, or does it happen everywhere?
Anyway, I cut them in half because I’m sensitive to most drugs. Boy, was I right! It was the first time in four months that I wasn’t in constant pain (it even got rid of the arthritis pain in my thumbs) BUT I was high as proverbial kite. Or drone. So I can be pain-free, but won’t have my functional wits about me.
So I decided to cut the halves in half again. (Not easy, because the pills are oval.) They took the edge off the pain, but I still felt woozy. I decided I would not take them today.
But here’s the weird thing. Everything hurts even more without them. It’s only been three days. Are the pills engineered to keep me taking them? I know that happens with oxycontin. Oh well.
Ever since covid, I’ve had all kinds of weird symptoms, especially with my heart. Well, yesterday I was in the hospital for an endoscopy — and my heart stopped. It didn’t sound like a big deal when the anesthesiologist told me about (I was still kind of loopy from the drugs), but an hour or so later, I looked it up: happens 1-5 patients per 10,000.
When the surgeon walked by, I grabbed him. “Tell me about this,” I told him.
He said it was only for a few seconds, he suspects it was a parasympathetic response to the procedure, but it’s not normal. They gave me a printout of the EKG to show my cardiologist and suggested further testing.
I blame Trump, or covid. Same thing!
I was 9 the year the measles vaccine came out. But before then, one of my cousins was in a coma from measles and when he finally came out, he was severely brain damaged. So no, I don’t have much sympathy for the parents of these children. It’s your job to protect them.
